HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Ender throws no-no as Hun tops Peddie

PRINCETON — The no-hitter Brett Ender tossed for the Hun School yesterday may not have been one of the prettiest baseball games ever played, but, in the end, it was a no-hitter.

And, for a young man just returning to the regular rotation after an injury, the outing was just as big.

By pitching the Raiders to a five-inning, 14-1 win over Peddie yesterday, Ender, a postgraduate from Montgomery High, helped his new team earn the top seed for next week’s New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association Prep A Tournament.

“I’ll take it in my first start back,” said Ender, who is headed to Seton Hall University in the fall. “I’d had a couple of relief appearances before, but this time, I was just trying to get my feet on the ground.”

Ender’s return to being a starter did not go as smoothly as you would expect in a no-hitter. He walked eight batters and struck out only three.

“I have a tendency to rely on my arms too much, and I don’t let my legs do the work. That was my big problem,” Ender said. “It’s a good confidence booster knowing I have the infield that I have behind me. With three Division 1 commits in the infield, they always make the plays for me.”

Yesterday, unlike last Saturday in the first round of the Mercer County Tournament (a 16-4 loss to Nottingham), Hun also had its bats behind the pitcher.

St. John’s-bound third baseman Eddie Paparella led the way, going 3-for-3 with three runs batted in. Ender helped his own cause with two hits, including a double, and two RBIs, while fellow PG Shane Adams went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI.

The Raiders scored in every inning. Back-to-back doubles by Ender and Jason Applegate ignited a six-run surge in the third to put the 10-run rule in effect.

“Today was a great way to come back from that Nottingham game and show the way we can hit,” Paparella said. “And Brett kept them off balance all game. Even though he ran into some trouble in the last inning, it was still a no-hitter.”

Ender had walked two batters in the second and third innings, but was saved by a double play and a pickoff in respective innings. He was not as fortunate in the fifth. After Paparella snared a sharp line drive off the bat of Andrew Tobin, Ender walked four straight to give the injury-plagued visitors their lone run as Scott Miller crossed the plate on Gregg Pascullo’s free pass.

“I didn’t think our hitting would be our strength this season. I thought our pitching and defense would be,” said Peddie head coach Erik Treese, whose 4-12 team has had trouble scoring of late. “I thought our hitting would be a little better than it’s been. It’s been hard, but we’ll persevere.”

Ender and the 12-5 Raiders can relate to that since injuries had Hun going in the wrong direction briefly. Yesterday’s victory snapped a two-game losing streak.

So, pretty or not, coach Bill McQuade’s players are hoping Ender’s no-hitter will be the spark for a finish as strong as their 8-1 start to the season.